Hi,

So today was around the 6th flight I had with my Phantom 3 Standard and the drone flew away.

Everything was normal. I turned on the drone, it had GPS signal, its home location was set and was in GPS fly mode.

I was about 40 meters up in the air when the drone just suddenly started flying away from me.
When it started flying away the app told me the signal is getting bad so I went up to higher ground and selected return to home which failed and then I lost singal to the drone.

I was not worried because when the Phantom looses connectivity with it's controller it would automatically return to home, as it is designed to do.
The drone never came back

I drove around with the controller in my hand and found the drone 385 meters from my home location, it landed safely and had no damage.


I have uploaded the log to log viewer:

http://www.phantomhelp.com/LogViewer/NGI8JAQTISCYIZAK3PZC/


Now please explain to my why the drone never returned to home when it lost connection with the controller as it is designed to do?
There is alot of "YAW" errors in the log, what does it mean?

In the log it mentions: Signal Lost. Aircraft Returning Home
It never went home, it went the opposite way!

If I look at the location  on the log viewer map, it does have the correct direction and path the drone flew, but only up to a point. The location on the map is not correct, I found the drone about 100 meters further than displayed on the map.

I am now scared to fly my Phantom again because next time I might not be so lucky if it goes crazy again.


I am raising a ticket with DJI to check what went wrong.

I want to know what happened, is there something wrong with my Phantom?

Lucky I also recorded the flight and have the video evidence.

Very dissapointed DJI Phantom 3 owner

At 7.9.9 the yaw error signifies a compass error. At that point the phantom went to atti mode, making GPS and, therefore, RTH, unreliable.

You were lucky to find it undamaged.

This appears to be fairly regular and extremely dangerous occuranceon the P3 - mostly the standard. I have been able to reproduce the compass error/yaw error at will. I have now purchased a new compass to see if that solves this problem.

The stock DJI response will be to tell you you didn't do a correct calibration and/or there was magnetic interference. This may or may not be true - it really doesn't solve the many reports of compass errors being reported.
As a mater of interest, what FW are you running?

Ok so before the drone flew away, I had a short flight beforehand which I have also uploaded to log viewer.

Ok so before the drone flew away, I had a short flight beforehand which I have also uploaded to log viewer.

http://www.phantomhelp.com/LogViewer/81LH5VT23DF74KETPA2L/

Sorry this happened, glad you didn't lose the aircraft.
Are you on the latest firmware?
Did you calibrate the compass before your flight or was it calibrated previously?
If you send the aircraft in they can evaluate it so see if anything is not operating correctly.

PaulSouthport Posted at 2016-12-7 12:48
At 7.9.9 the yaw error signifies a compass error. At that point the phantom went to atti mode, making GPS and, therefore, RTH, unreliable.

You were lucky to find it undamaged.

Yes, a poorly calibrated compass can cause this.
But, if the aircraft is sent in then they will be able to evaluate it to see if there is an issue.

I had a somewhat issue with mine it's been really good till I upgraded to a 1 7 9. I had one good lap and I took her the opposite direction completely lost all signal scared it wasn't coming back I walked towards the direction and nothing turned off the controller back on then it tried to relink and I saw a return to home and it came back and I haven't taken up since

Glad you got your Phantom back undamaged. I'd be freaked out about flying too if that happened to me, but you need to build trust in your equipment again. Take it out to an open field and get a good calibration. Just fly it close and low (maybe in Atti) mode to see if you get another compass error.

According to the log, as soon as the aircraft lost signal, it said 'returning to home', but the status field shows 'auto-landing'. This would suggest you have the aircraft set-up to land where it is rather than return to home. Then it encountered a yaw error and switched to ATTI mode, this means it would have then drifted with the wind. The second short flight also shows it going into auto-landing mode when it lost signal, so I suggest you check your settings.

Geebax Posted at 2016-12-8 09:49
According to the log, as soon as the aircraft lost signal, it said 'returning to home', but the status field shows 'auto-landing'. .

From what I see, the OP was flying almost directly overhead (at his home?) which is the most probable cause of the signal loss. The P3  would then have attempted to land immediately (as it's inside the 20m field). As it's coming straight down (towards houses) the error occurred (due to the proximity of houses possibly?) and the craft went into ATTI.

OP probably didn't realise this and the P3 probably drifted with the wind. At some point when the craft was no longer overhead radio link was reestablished. I'm guessing OP thought the craft was still in RTH mode and didn't take control.

Because the flight path was over houses, OP probably lost LOS with the craft as it drifted which probably explains the sporadic signal loss.I suspect the craft then drifted over the nearby fields which probably allowed it to (somehow) autoland.

Not a good idea to fly over houses!

Thanks for all the replies.

The Phantom is on FW v 1.6.80
Since I only got the drone 3 days ago I though it would be a good idea to fly the drone on the current firmware and make sure everything works before upgrading to the latest firmware.

I did buy the drone second hand and I did not calibrate the compass since I bought the drone as the previous owner told me have calibrated the compass the day before I bought the drone from him and did a test flight to make sure the drone is working OK.


How often do I need to calibrate the compass?
I would assume the drone would notify me when it needs the compass calibrated?
If the P3 has a compass error, does it automatically change from GPS mode to ATTI mode?

So I guess I am at fault for not calibrating the compass after I received the drone from the previous owner?

I checked the "RC signal lost" setting and it is defnitely set to" Return-to-home.


@DJI-Ken - who and where do I need to send in the P3 to be evaluated?

mk1 Posted at 2016-12-8 17:31
Thanks for all the replies.

The Phantom is on FW v 1.6.80

Not recalibrating the compass may not be the issue at all.
How often do you need to recalibrate the compass?
Not very often.
The manual has a badly worded section on compass calibration that has confused many people.
This explains what compass calibration is and when it's necessary:  http://www.phantompilots.com/thr ... plete-primer.32829/
In case you haven't found the manual, here's one here:  https://dl.djicdn.com/downloads/ ... al_v1.4_en_0112.pdf

some of the P3S have issues with 1.6.8 drop signal etc..try 1.5.7+ or 1.7.9 firmware and test in an open space..cheers D

I never trust previous owners and always re-calibrate / check settings of any model.

Nigel

Thanks guys.

DJI contacted me and I will send them the flight records.

In the meanwhile, do I

1) upgrade the firmware, then recalibreate the compass?
or
2) recalibrate the compass and then upgrade the firmware?

mk1 Posted at 2016-12-8 05:35
Thanks guys.

DJI contacted me and I will send them the flight records.

**Upgrade then recalibrate IMU and compass.

** If you have more than 1 battery, they need to be upgrades as well. Shutdown drone, remove current battery, insert additional battery, restart.

P3 updated to latest firmware and all went well.
CAS-357899-V8Z1F5 logged with DJI for feedback.

Hope you had better luck than me.....the compass works when it wants too.
I calibrated it in the middle of a 100ac field with nothing metal around. Three minutes into a flight after the compass gets an error. Guess I need to buy a new compass for mine.

fanse148cb30 Posted at 2016-12-10 21:36
Hope you had better luck than me.....the compass works when it wants too.
I calibrated it in the middle of a 100ac field with nothing metal around. Three minutes into a flight after the compass gets an error. Guess I need to buy a new compass for mine.

I'm not saying there is no problem with your compass.

But just to comment that Magnetic Anomalies occur not only because of metal objects but also due to substrata of land etc. These can in some instances be more than just a degree or so.

Also are you sure there are no power lines or other cables / piping under that field where you are ?  
A quick way of checking is to walk across the field holding a magnetic compass ... watch that needle and note where it points ... identify a distant mark its pointing at... see if it swings off from it as you move across the field or even ONTO the field !!

Just commenting ...

Nigel

DJI-Ken Posted at 2016-12-7 14:55
Yes, a poorly calibrated compass can cause this.
But, if the aircraft is sent in then they will be able to evaluate it to see if there is an issue.

i did all what u said.
i relink RC. fly in different places. move antenna. downgrade firmware. upgrade firmware using a different device. calibrate compass. calibrate MUI. all this doesnt work.even i used parabolic with my antenna. i sent it to my seller here in PERU.(SEGURIMAX PERU SAC) they said me . of course there is a problem it loses signal. they change antenna. if that will not work. what can i do?..

DJI-Ken Posted at 2016-12-7 14:54
Sorry this happened, glad you didn't lose the aircraft.
Are you on the latest firmware?
Did you calibrate the compass before your flight or was it calibrated previously?

yes i am agree. but what can we do? maybe next firmware fix it? but do you know ? when it will be availible? and if there will ...now i sent it to me seller here in PERU. they change drone's antennas if after it doesnt work. they dont know what more they can do. DJI should do something. a lot opf people has the same issue. and they just say update firmware, relink RC, try different places, etc etc. to me they did it coz they just want sell the PHANTOM 4 or this new PHANTOM 4 PRO.

harry0112 Posted at 2016-12-12 15:21
yes i am agree. but what can we do? maybe next firmware fix it? but do you know ? when it will be availible? and if there will ...now i sent it to me seller here in PERU. they change drone's antennas if after it doesnt work. they dont know what more they can do. DJI should do something. a lot opf people has the same issue. and they just say update firmware, relink RC, try different places, etc etc. to me they did it coz they just want sell the PHANTOM 4 or this new PHANTOM 4 PRO.

The latest Phantom3 Standard firmware addressed this.
If you are in an interference free area and doing everything correctly (including proper antenna orientation) and you are still having issues then please contact support and send the aircraft in for evaluation.
Here's a video that may help.

Feedback from DJI:
We got feedback from our data analysis team that the compass was interfered which result in the issue. However the drone is in good condition. So no need to worry about it.


Ok so DJI say my P3S does not have any issues, I am going to take it for a flight soon and report back.

So I had two flights and no more Compass errors

solentlife Posted at 2016-12-10 05:50
I'm not saying there is no problem with your compass.

But just to comment that Magnetic Anomalies occur not only because of metal objects but also due to substrata of land etc. These can in some instances be more than just a degree or so.

I own the land.....there is no wires/pipes in the ground.  It's sand ground with no rocks or other sources of interference.....it started with the latest updates and the strong interference alarms....

Hi my name is Jon and I have a phantom 3 standard I got for Christmas today at around 5:30 for me it was still bright out and not windy my drone calibration was perfect and all good the gps and compass was good and my home was set ur I brought it up to 200 feet up and I press return home and then I was moving it so it wouldn’t hit the house then it flew away by itself and never came back when it said return home it just went the opposite was this thing brand new was over 1,000$ and it malfunctions? That is not right and it should not do that so know I lost a 1000$ drone because the the drone took off by it self!

Jonathan Unterweiser Posted at 2018-10-17 17:19
Hi my name is Jon and I have a phantom 3 standard I got for Christmas today at around 5:30 for me it was still bright out and not windy my drone calibration was perfect and all good the gps and compass was good and my home was set ur I brought it up to 200 feet up and I press return home and then I was moving it so it wouldn’t hit the house then it flew away by itself and never came back when it said return home it just went the opposite was this thing brand new was over 1,000$ and it malfunctions? That is not right and it should not do that so know I lost a 1000$ drone because the the drone took off by it self!

You should go to this li8nk: http://www.phantomhelp.com/LogViewer/Upload/

Follow the instructions to upload your flight data, and when it produces the report, come back here and post a link to that report.

mk1 Posted at 2017-1-1 08:34
So I had two flights and no more Compass errors

You should consider what Geebax wrote. The last sentence. Make sure in settings if you press the return to home that it will return to home and not auto land. If you can’t find this in option in settings, just ask.   

Jonathan Unterweiser Posted at 2018-10-17 17:19
Hi my name is Jon and I have a phantom 3 standard I got for Christmas today at around 5:30 for me it was still bright out and not windy my drone calibration was perfect and all good the gps and compass was good and my home was set ur I brought it up to 200 feet up and I press return home and then I was moving it so it wouldn’t hit the house then it flew away by itself and never came back when it said return home it just went the opposite was this thing brand new was over 1,000$ and it malfunctions? That is not right and it should not do that so know I lost a 1000$ drone because the the drone took off by it self!

It would be very unusual for it to malfunction the way you described and the cause of the incident is probably something else.
Luckily the recorded flight data will probably have the explanation.
To find out what really happened, go to http://www.phantomhelp.com/LogViewer/Upload/
Follow the instructions there to upload your flight record from your phone or tablet.
Come back and post a link to the report it gives you.

Thanks but the flight record show where it was and I checked there it wasn’t there either it crashed or someone took it

Jonathan Unterweiser Posted at 2018-10-18 03:04
Thanks but the flight record show where it was and I checked there it wasn’t there either it crashed or someone took it

If you lost your Phantom, then you have no case.  Still, it would serve the membership to post the flight log info via the Phantom Help site linked in several posts above.  Sorry for your loss.